WABASH MAGAZINE | SPRING/SUMMER 2003


Sports Notes

By Brent Harris
harrisb@wabash.edu


An All-American Season

Chris Healy wasn’t the only Little Giant athlete to earn the right to be called an All-American this season. Several Wabash sports performers have achieved one of the highest individual honors.

Senior track and field star Peter DeYoung earned All-American honors at the NCAA Division III Indoor Track and Field Championships with a fourth-place finish in the high jump. The senior, who owned the Wabash indoor record with a jump of 6’ 9”, cleared 6’ 9-3/4” at the championship meet at DePauw University to improve the mark while taking fourth place.

DeYoung and Healy joined three Little Giant football players who were honored earlier in the season. Ryan Short ’03, Nate Boulais ’03, and Jake Knott ’03 were all selected to the Hewlett-Packard All-American Team. Short earned First Team honors as a tight end for the second consecutive season, while Boulais grabbed a spot as a First Team linebacker for the first time. Knott was selected as the Third Team quarterback.

 

Record-Setting Performances

It will be a busy summer in the sports information changing several Wabash College records. In addition to Chris Healy’s new mark for wins in a season for the wrestling program with 48, Healy also set the mark for pins in a season, topping the previous record of 17 by one. He also broke the record for wins at 174 pounds with 48, as did teammates Phu Hong ’05 at 125 pounds with 23, and Adam Miller ’05 at 157 pounds with 29.

Senior Joe DesJean destroyed the Wabash basketball blocked shot record. The senior forward moved past Chris Whitfield ’88 and his previous record of 163 career rejections early in the season on the way to 190 career blocks. DesJean set the single-season record as a sophomore with 61 and equaled it his junior season.

The Wabash baseball team didn’t break the record for most wins in season this year, but certainly came close. Finishing with a mark of 22-15, the Little Giants became the third-winnings team in Wabash history. They also set three records as Jared Began ’06 hit 14 doubles to eclipse the mark of 13 set by Mike Mack ’04 one year ago. Shortstop Danny Schubert ’05 recorded 110 assists, becoming the first Wabash player to top 100 assists in a season. He was also part of an infield group that set the record for double plays in year, turning 37 twin killings this spring.

 

No Stranger to Winning

Charging across the football field in San Diego to celebrate the Tampa Bay Buccaneers' victory over Oakland in the Super Bowl was one man who Wabash fans saw do the same thing game after game for the Little Giants. Tampa Bay quarterbacks coach Stan Parrish also enjoyed a successful run as the head coach at Wabash in the late 70s and early 80s.

Parrish still holds the record for the best winning percentage by a head coach at Wabash, winning 42 of his 46 games at the helm of the Little Giant football program. He joined the Wabash staff as an assistant in 1977, helping the Wabash football team to reach the Amos Alonzo Stagg Bowl to play for the Division III National Championship.

He took over the Wabash program as the head coach the next season, leading the Little Giants from 1978-1982 and earning himself a place in the Wabash Athletic Hall of Fame. He left Wabash in 1983 to return to Purdue University as a quarterbacks coach. He left the Boilermakers in 1984 to take over the reins at Marshall, and was head coach at Kansas State and an assistant at Rutgers before moving to the University of Michigan. He served under Lloyd Carr at Michigan as the quarterbacks coach, working with current NFL quarterbacks Brian Griese and Tom Brady. He left the Michigan program shortly before receiving a call from new Tampa Bay Buccaneers head coach Jon Gruden, who asked Stan to join his staff in Tampa Bay as the Buccaneers' quarterback coach.

“I would be lying if I said that being a part of a Super Bowl championship team wasn’t a highlight in my career,” says Parrish. “But I still remember each of those victories at Wabash. That was the starting point in my career. I learned a lot from years at Wabash. I think it taught me what it takes to be a success in football. I learned the amount of hard work it takes to reach this level, no matter where you are.”

Parrish is not the first Wabash player to experience the Super Bowl firsthand. Wabash Hall of Famer Pete Metzelaars '82 caught a touchdown pass in Super Bowl XXVI while playing tight end for the Buffalo Bills. Metzelaars was part of the Bills' squads that played in four consecutive Super Bowls.

Jon Gruden, head coach of the Buccaneers, also has a connection to Wabash. A graduate of the University of Dayton, played one series on offense and was the holder on a 37-yard field goal attempt in Dayton's 51-6 victory over the Little Giants on October 26, 1985 in Dayton, Ohio.

Gruden finished the day with four carries for 33 yards, including a 12-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter that gave the Flyers a 44-6 lead. He also completed a pass as the holder on a blocked extra point, but the receiver could not get back to the original line of scrimmage. The pass went for a 14-yard loss, the only completion of the contest for future NFL coach.

 

 


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